COMPARISON: Hardware-Decoded MQA (using Mytek Brooklyn DAC)
As promised in my last blog post about software MQA decoding, I have been wanting to have a peek and listen to hardware decoding. Due to the proprietary nature of the MQA firmware as well as the fact...
View ArticleMUSINGS: Discussion on the MQA filter (and filters in general)...
Here's an interesting comment from the post last week... CBee 7 February 2017 at 04:47 Excellent article but I have one query. On Sound on Sound they say "MQA claim that the total impulse-response...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: Roon 1.2 (with Intel NUC 6i5SYH)
NOTE: I know that just a couple weeks ago, version 1.3 of Roon has been released and I'll perhaps look into that a bit later once some of the initial bugs are stamped out and the system matures a...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: A look & listen to Roon Bridge - Raspberry Pi 3 Streaming...
Last time, I talked about Roon and discussed my experience with it using the NUC as the primary installation and playback. No doubt, you are aware that many people will use inexpensive devices like...
View ArticleMUSINGS: Computer Audio Part I: Demystifying "Computer Audio Demystified"
It's nice to see that some of the seminars at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest (RMAF) 2016 have been posted on YouTube. It gives all of us who may have wanted to visit a chance to review the "latest and...
View ArticleMUSINGS: Computer Audio Part II: The Basics & Suggestions
For many readers, I'm sure what I'm about to write here is relatively "old hat" by now... However, in the spirit of "Computer Audio Demystified" last week, let's talk about this powerful way of...
View ArticleHOWTO: Building and Installing the Raspberry Pi 3 "Touch" Audio Streamer.
Raspberry Pi 3 + 7" Touchscreen (left) and Squeezebox Touch (right): for the Pi device, I still had the plastic screen protector on in the picture, hence the bottom left tab... I showed you guys this...
View Article20kHz ultrasonic frequencies for high-fidelity audio?">MUSINGS: Do we "need" those >20kHz ultrasonic frequencies for high-fidelity...
Recently I received this excellent question and link about ultrasonic frequencies from the Computer Audiophile site: Hi, Archimago. Visit your blog frequently and find your posts enlightening and...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: Oppo BDP-105 RCA, XLR, HDMI, and other stuff for the record...
Recently, I was looking at my directory of audio measurement data and realized that I forgot to put up the measurements I had collected on the Oppo BDP-105 Blu-Ray player that I borrowed from a friend...
View ArticleCOMPARISON: MQA "Authentication" & Sound Quality? (Mytek Brooklyn & Meridian...
You've probably heard or read the catch phrases from MQA over the years. "Revolutionary", "TAKE ME THERE"... "To the original performance..." Or how about using phrases like "end-to-end technology"?...
View ArticleRETRO-MEASURE: 2002 Lynx L22 PCI audio card in a ~2008 Intel Q6600 Computer!...
As many of you probably know, Mitch "Mitchco" Barnett is a regular contributor to the Computer Audiophile website with his articles. He's also the author of the book Accurate Sound Reproduction Using...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: Windows 10 Creators Update USB Audio Class 2 Driver. (And a...
It has arrived... Finally... Microsoft's USB Audio Class 2 (UAC2) native Windows driver has been released with the recent Windows 10 Creators Update ("CU", version 1703, build 15063.138). I updated...
View ArticlePREVIEW: Oppo Sonica DAC (Thanks Oppo for making it right... On the rationale...
Usually, I don't post many "preview" type articles, preferring to give you guys "the goods" when I've had an adequate amount of time with a device (usually at least a month or so) including...
View ArticleMUSINGS: On Being an Audiophile, Rationality, and Respectability (Thoughts on...
For the post today, I thought it would be interesting to take a step back from my usual measurements and various objective explorations and spend some time thinking about the "audiophile" hobby; you...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: Raspberry Pi 3 "Touch" music streamer
The music being played is the soundtrack from Japanese anime Your Name (Kimi No Na Wa). Saw it with the family last week - great flick! A few weeks ago when I described the building of the Raspberry...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: SMSL iDEA USB DAC / Headphone Amp (ESS Sabre ES9018Q2C + XMOS...
In 2015, ESS revealed its latest generation of DACs at the CES show. One of the interesting new products revealed was the SABRE9018Q2C, a tiny 5mm x 5mm SoC claiming very high audio quality out of an...
View ArticleMUSINGS / MEASUREMENTS: Thoughts on Vinyl LP Fidelity... (And thoughts on...
Alright... Let's not get worked up about the cartoon :-). I know, the debate between vinyl and CD (digital) remains one of the greatest "wars" of the audio world; not that it should be a big deal...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: Oppo Sonica DAC (ESS Sabre ES9038Pro based device)
My Raspberry Pi 3 "Touch" on top of the Oppo Sonica DAC - notice the DAC can handle up to PCM 768kHz (and DSD512 / 22.4MHz). A few weeks ago, I published the preview of the new Oppo Sonica DAC and...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: Audioquest Dragonfly Black 1.5 - PART 1 (General)
Four USB mini-DAC's (back to front): Light Harmonic Geek Out V2, Audioquest Dragonfly Black, SMSL iDEA, AudioEngine D3. As I showed a couple weeks ago, I have in my possession one of the Audioquest...
View ArticleMEASUREMENTS: AudioQuest Dragonfly Black 1.5 - PART 2 (On "MQA Rendering")
AudioQuest Dragonfly Black - "rendering" MQA playback. Dragonfly logo turns purplish... For those keeping track, the story of MQA has slowly evolved over the last few years. Initially, it was supposed...
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